According to the latest forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media, Android tablet sales will be neck and neck with the iPad in 2015 with 87 million and 90 million unit sales, respectively. Although Apple has dominated this space since the launch of the iPad in 2010, this is set to change with the introduction of low-cost Android tablets, the wider launch of Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and the possibility of other major brands such as Amazon launching tablets on the OS.

“We have seen a huge explosion in the tablet market in recent years, driven primarily by the iPad, and we estimate that the market will go from strength to strength, growing from under 20 million tablets sold in 2010, to over 230 million in 2015,” comments David McQueen, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, in the press release. “We expect Apple to retain its leading market share until 2015 but only just. From 2013, as cheaper and more advanced Android tablets enter the market, we forecast that sales will pick up considerably, eventually surpassing iPad sales in 2016.”

Apple currently has 75% of the market but this will drop to just 39% in 2015. Meanwhile Android will see a huge increase in its market share, as the devices and the ecosystem around the platform improve. By 2015, it will have 38% market share, putting it on a par with the iPad.

“Three factors have proven to be decisive in the success and failure of tablets: brand; access to distribution channels; and product quality, including the application environment offered. At the moment, the iPad leads in all three areas but Apple’s edge is likely to wane as the quality of the competing products and application environments improves,” adds McQueen.

It is anticipated that, once Windows 8.0 is launched, there will be a variety of tablets available in the market based on Intel and ARM architecture. These are most likely to include a Nokia device as well as a number from the traditional PC vendors.

RIM’s PlayBook is expected to show only modest growth early on following its launch as some mobile operators have shown to be reticent to carry the device as they are struggling with the business model owing to it initially being Wi-Fi only. However, volumes will be buoyed by the inclusion of Android apps on the device and the introduction of cellular connectivity (HSPA+ and LTE versions are expected before end-2011).

“Most mobile operators are expected to focus on supporting iOS and Android tablets in line with demand, and their current indifferent support for Windows, BlackBerry OS (QnX), webOS and MeeGo tablets will prove decisive in shaping consumers’ purchasing decisions in the short term. However, it is those devices that can also dominate the consumer-electronics sector and online retail channels as well as nurture their current partnerships with the mobile operators that will win out,” concludes McQueen.

Four years is a lifetime when it comes to mobile devices or computer tech in general. It’s certainly possible that as Apple scales up production and continues to offer fairly priced, high-quality tablets, they could have an even bigger lead. The future is quite unpredictable. However, with Apple’s reserve cash and retail distribution channel, Apple has the most leverage of all those rival companies, so this prediction is really just being based on speculation.

If Android market share were to approach iPad share, Android would fall into the Netbook paradigm: cheap crap with nothing going for but a low price; low margins and razor thin profitability. Apple would still maintain 80-90% of tablet profits. But if Apple is able to continue succeeding in chipping away at Android via patent suits, it is doubtful that Android tablets have much of a future.

This is the iPod all over again ,you can build and count all you want but you need to sell them.they (droids)tablets are not selling ,it doesn’t matter how cheap .crap is crap !stick to phones ,oh wait you copied them as well and are going to get spanked.

Says who? Based on what? The number of units shipped? Just because Android tablets are sitting in a warehouse gathering dust doesn’t mean they’re in the market. The true measurement should be web traffic and iPad accounts for more than 95% of web traffic among tablets in the US. That’s a true measurement of what’s in the wild.

Looking at web traffic is a crappy way to measure tablet (iPad & rip-odd devices) numbers. This will significantly underestimate the Android numbers. People love the iPad and use them extensively. The Android tablets? Seriously … who wants to use one of them online?

I can probably agree… Apple will most likely come out with something better than the tablet and people will stop using tablets and go with the new iProduct.. there for android tablets will soar….

most likely that wont happen though… people think Apple is a fad that will wash away.. they keep forgetting that they are the company that keeps changing the way people think… and the others just copy.. and don’t do a good job of it.